In Maharashtra, the BJP turned the tide in five months and set a new record.
Mahayuti’s landslide victory in Maharashtra destroyed all speculations and equations. The alliance won 231 of 288 seats here. This is special in itself because the BJP had suffered a huge setback in Maharashtra during the Lok Sabha elections just five months ago. After this, the opposition Mahavikas Aghadi alliance had full hopes of defeating Mahayuti in the assembly elections. What happened was quite the opposite and the BJP not only returned with an excellent strike rate but also wrote the history of the Mahayuti alliance’s victory.
The BJP had suffered a major setback in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. Of the 48 Lok Sabha seats here, the Neeti Mahavikas Aghadi Congress won 30 seats, while the Mahayuti alliance won 17 seats. One seat went to someone else. After this, the party was on the defensive, but the BJP made a fine comeback in the assembly elections held exactly five months later. This time, of the 231 seats won by the Mahayuti alliance, the BJP alone has 132 seats. Here the BJP contested the elections for 145 seats. Not even political analysts had imagined this performance of the BJP.
Those 5 reasons why BJP changed the atmosphere of Maharashtra?
1- The narrative of the Constitution is reversed
Maharashtra’s mandate in the Lok Sabha elections was a blow to the BJP. The party did not expect this fate. In such a situation, the BJP put all its strength into changing the atmosphere here. On the contrary, the opposition alliance began to consider the results of the Lok Sabha elections as a guarantee of victory in the assembly elections. The BJP was the first to debunk the narrative created by the opposition about the Constitution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself took charge of this and from all platforms in the country raised the issue that the Congress is misleading. He also managed to convey his message to the people. According to political analysts, the narrative of saving the Constitution had caused the biggest loss to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. Due to this, the BJP dispersed the Buddhists and other SCs and STs, but when this issue came to light, this vote bank joined the BJP again.
2- Ladli Behan Yojana
After spreading the narrative about the Constitution, the BJP’s next focus was the women vote bank. For this, the party planned and publicized the Ladli Behan Yojana. In the five months between the Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly elections, four installments of the scheme were released to women’s accounts. Previously, this amount was Rs 1,000, which was increased by Rs 250 and finally increased to Rs 1,500. This measure worked and this time, in the assembly elections, women came out of their homes and voted overwhelmingly.
3- Motto of ‘If we are divided, we will be divided – if we are together, we are safe’
The third reason for BJP’s confidence in the Maharashtra elections was those slogans that largely united the Hindi vote bank. Firstly, UP CM Yogi Adityanath heated up the atmosphere of Maharashtra politics by giving the slogan of ‘Bantege a Katenge’. This slogan resonated so much in Maharashtra that some party leaders made it their motto. However, some leaders also believed that the slogan could cause harm, so leaders like Ajit Pawar, Pankaja Munde and Ashok Chavan of the BJP ally NCP came out against it, but the party stuck to its slogan. As the uproar increased, Prime Minister Narendra Modi not only gave his silent consent to CM Yogi’s slogan by raising the slogan ‘Ek hai to safe hai’, but in other words, he managed to give a message to the people that those who They divide in the name of caste and religion are waiting for a response. Its effect was visible in the elections and the BJP got a one-sided vote.
4- Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Formula
In Maharashtra, despite slogans like if we are divided, we will be cut off and if we are united, we are safe, the BJP did not let the wrong meaning of these slogans go away. The party remained completely focused on the Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas formula. Just before the elections, CM Shinde also tried to give the message, by increasing the salary of madrassa teachers, that the Maharashtra government and the Mahayuti alliance are not anti-Muslim. This had an impact on Muslim votes. The Muslim vote share, which was 65 to 70 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections, has come down to just 35 to 40 per cent this time.
5- Strategy to make farmers happy
Along with Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana, the Mahayuti government continuously worked to please the farmers of Maharashtra. The government not only improved their situation but also assured the people that it was with the farmers. BJP worked here to provide relief to cotton and soybean farmers. Also, farmers in northern Maharashtra were angry over the ban on onion exports, over which the government adopted policies that benefited it in the elections.
